Covenant News
NW Conference Secures Clothing for Sudanese Refugees
ADDIS ABABA (August 10, 2000) - A 40-foot cargo container of donated clothing valued at more than $126,000 reached Ethiopia today, the latest in a series of relief projects involving the Northwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC).The Radda Barnen, a Swedish relief agency, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC) will distribute the clothing to Sudanese refugees living in Ethiopian refugee camps. Jim Sundholm and Jerry Rice, who coordinate relief efforts for the Northwest Conference, say the donation will clothe about 12,000 people. There are 25 Covenant churches in Dimma and Pugnido refugee camps in Ethiopia and another 160 churches in South Sudan.
The clothing donation grew out of a sewing project co-sponsored by UNHCR, Radda Barnen and the Northwest Conference. Given that project's success (it provided clothes for 7,500 people in the Dimma and Pugnido camps), the Ethiopian government granted UNHCR a one-year permit to bring clothing into the country. Ethiopia has limited clothing imports during the current economic recovery. "The UN collected a shipment of clothing," Sundholm says, "but in the meantime there was a flood in Mozambique. The clothes meant for Ethiopia were sent there as that was a more immediate need."
UNHRC asked the Northwest Conference office to help arrange donations of clothes. "The UN said that if we could get the clothes they would arrange the shipping," Rice said. "Jim made a number of calls and contacts trying to track down donations of clothes. Jim has been talking with World Vision about South Sudan - when he talked with them about the need for clothes, they immediately stepped forward to assist us by donating a 40-foot container with 12,000 clothes."
Other recent Covenant projects include $10,000 in emergency food from Covenant World Relief for churches in South Sudan and garden tools and seed from the Northwest Conference, which will assist South Sudanese Covenant churches in the current growing season. This summer, Covenant camps are raising funds to purchase a grain mill and a powerboat.
"These [donations] will be of practical help to the people of the churches," Sundholm said, "but they will be economic development projects to help the church raise money for their ministry. The boat will take people and goods in and out of South Sudan."
The Northwest Conference, with matching funds from Covenant World Relief, is beginning the second phase of the refugee camp sewing project to clothe another 7,200 children. Refugees are taught to sew, and they then make clothing for the children.
A Covenanter in the Northwest Conference has arranged a donation of two anesthesia machines and hospital supplies for Black Lion Hospital and University Medical School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. "They are excellent machines," Rice said. "The head of the anesthesia department is excited as it will greatly upgrade their equipment."
Northwest Conference staff is arranging transportation of the donated machines to Ethiopia. "They are small - just two crates," Rice said, "so we are having trouble shipping them there. [To transport them by ship], they have to fill out a large container . . . and the cost of shipping by air is prohibitive."
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